Big wind, big sea - stories from the helm?

[Denise McDonald]

Knuckle biter #1

we wee out for a rather exhilarating sail in about 18-20 knots with a good sized swell running. It was 5-6 feet, but the waves were of a very long period of about 13 seconds. With those long period waves, big distances between the swells, it was actually pretty pleasant and tolerated well even though the admiral is sometimes prone to mal de mer.

Then, tired, we returned and approached our home port. Our harbor has two rock jetties protected by a detached breakwater. most of our waters are fairly deep and we are not often concerned about the state of the tides,BUT of that day, the wind and waves both pointed into the harbor and the tide was at ebb.the out rushing tide met the in rushing waves and wind. That shorted the wave period drastically right at the harbor mouth. The
laws of physics being firm as they are, shortened wave frequencies equal added wave amplitude (height). So now, close to the rocks and sweeping across the harbor entrance toward a Lee shore were (my estimate) 8-10’ waves which were very close together. The harbor patrol boat was out hailing boats to use caution on entry. No s**t, Sherlock!. Watching Several wave sets and other boats, the few who dared, was scary but I could see in my minds eye what had to be done. Once committed we were surfing and had to turn back up the face of the wave, exactly toward the rocks of the detached breakwater, knowing that the wave would turn the bow back away from the rocks as it sweeps us into the harbor mouth! What a ride. Made it!

I WOULD HAVE HAD TO CHANGE MY PANTS... "FOULIES" WOULD TAKE ON A WHOLE NEW MEANING....

 

[Denise McDonald]

Ericson 39 coming out of New Zealand headed for Tonga:
Wind 92+ Knots (Our Anemometer pegged at 65 knots, the weather station on the Kermadec Islands when we were passing them, contacted by radio had theirs pegged at 92 Knots).
Seas 45 feet Plus, Measured by the height of the second spreader. Could have been higher, really hard to know except that there was only a small patch of sky visible when you were in the troughs.
In the group of boats that left at the same time we did, 4 sank, 1 with all hands, another crew fished out of the ocean by helicopter, two in life rafts. 5 Other boats headed back after the storm that wasn't supposed to have happened passed over them. 3 of them had to be towed in as I recall.
We ripped the traveler off of one side of the deck, (Turns out the backing plates on the traveler on the 39 were a bad joke). We bent the anchor roller retrieving the parachute sea anchor (User error and a long anchor roller). We did temporary repairs at sea. We had to caulk, and rebed later, the port dead lights, but they held through an amazing beating they took at one point, and sailed into Tonga.
Fun, no you couldn't even see fun from where we were....
My wife asked me if I was afraid, I lied and said no.. I asked her the same question, she said no... We both knew our spouse was lying to us, but never pointed that out......
Our 39 took care of us through that storm which would have been considered a hurricane outside of the southern ocean sailing.
Our 46 has been through a number of full gales. Both boats took care of us, they were well built and we took care of them first....

What an amazing story! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Denise McDonald]

I guess the biggest knuckle biter I experienced so far was coming back to Tahiti after touring the societies with some relatives.

The rest of Ava’s family had flown into Tahiti the night before and we were coming back to see everyone. We were going to anchor behind the house they rented, but of course to get there we had to enter an uncharted break in the reef. As we approached we couldn’t see the pass! I could see white water breaking everywhere along the reef. Could have been the 5 meter swell that was running...

We got within a few hundred yards and decided to carry on and head for Port Phaeton instead (much more clearly marked pass).

The wind was light so the 5 or so miles were slow going. We were still waiting on our replacement motor drive batteries to arrive from India, but didn’t let that deter us from sailing around the island. (After leaving the boat in Tahiti for 4 months we returned to a dead battery bank. We managed to dumb charge the batteries back up and they held 12V each, but how much capacity remained was a big question mark. Each 12V battery was down to 2V before we managed to charge them.)

Knowing all of this, even entering the “big” pass was a nail biter. Of course we were under sail, and of course the wind was light. We were hard on the fickle wind, but at least we had a slight current in our favor.

As we entered the pass, the wind built and soon were we coming in at 6kts next to the surfers and kayakers that were paddling the Vairao break. It was terrifyingly beautiful to be lifted by the 5meter swell and launched into the pass a hundred feet from the surfers. A quick burst of the throttle allowed us to point up just enough to clear the reef marker and in we went.

One exciting tack later the nerves calmed and we were sailing in the crystal clear water of the beautiful lagoon. We made it “home.”

I guess we were a bit practiced after Ava and I sailed out of the East pass of Huahine a week prior with the wind on the nose into 3 meter swell. We had to tack about 4 times in the narrow pass before we were well clear of the reef. It’s very intimidating watching those waves break on the reef a hundred feet away...

I absolutely love how Cinderella sails. Yes, she’s slow compared to some of the big modern sleds, but I would like to see them sail in and out of all those passes in French Polynesia double-handed. I still remember blowing the doors of a Tayana 48 going to windward against the current in El Salvador. After we passed them, they started their engine and dropped their sails.

-P

Love it! These boats are really awesome aren't they?

 

[cowlum]

Ericson 39 coming out of New Zealand headed for Tonga:
Wind 92+ Knots (Our Anemometer pegged at 65 knots, the weather station on the Kermadec Islands when we were passing them, contacted by radio had theirs pegged at 92 Knots).
Seas 45 feet Plus, Measured by the height of the second spreader. Could have been higher, really hard to know except that there was only a small patch of sky visible when you were in the troughs.
In the group of boats that left at the same time we did, 4 sank, 1 with all hands, another crew fished out of the ocean by helicopter, two in life rafts. 5 Other boats headed back after the storm that wasn't supposed to have happened passed over them. 3 of them had to be towed in as I recall.
We ripped the traveler off of one side of the deck, (Turns out the backing plates on the traveler on the 39 were a bad joke). We bent the anchor roller retrieving the parachute sea anchor (User error and a long anchor roller). We did temporary repairs at sea. We had to caulk, and rebed later, the port dead lights, but they held through an amazing beating they took at one point, and sailed into Tonga.
Fun, no you couldn't even see fun from where we were....
My wife asked me if I was afraid, I lied and said no.. I asked her the same question, she said no... We both knew our spouse was lying to us, but never pointed that out......
Our 39 took care of us through that storm which would have been considered a hurricane outside of the southern ocean sailing.
Our 46 has been through a number of full gales. Both boats took care of us, they were well built and we took care of them first....

Was this the Queens Birthday Weekend storm?

 

[Denise McDonald]

Ericson 39 coming out of New Zealand headed for Tonga:
Wind 92+ Knots (Our Anemometer pegged at 65 knots, the weather station on the Kermadec Islands when we were passing them, contacted by radio had theirs pegged at 92 Knots).
Seas 45 feet Plus, Measured by the height of the second spreader. Could have been higher, really hard to know except that there was only a small patch of sky visible when you were in the troughs.
In the group of boats that left at the same time we did, 4 sank, 1 with all hands, another crew fished out of the ocean by helicopter, two in life rafts. 5 Other boats headed back after the storm that wasn't supposed to have happened passed over them. 3 of them had to be towed in as I recall.
We ripped the traveler off of one side of the deck, (Turns out the backing plates on the traveler on the 39 were a bad joke). We bent the anchor roller retrieving the parachute sea anchor (User error and a long anchor roller). We did temporary repairs at sea. We had to caulk, and rebed later, the port dead lights, but they held through an amazing beating they took at one point, and sailed into Tonga.
Fun, no you couldn't even see fun from where we were....
My wife asked me if I was afraid, I lied and said no.. I asked her the same question, she said no... We both knew our spouse was lying to us, but never pointed that out......
Our 39 took care of us through that storm which would have been considered a hurricane outside of the southern ocean sailing.
Our 46 has been through a number of full gales. Both boats took care of us, they were well built and we took care of them first....

Wow. I had to read that twice to take it all in. So glad you lived to tell the tale.

 

[Sailingfun]

After 30 knots and +10 foot tides, sailing changes from fun to survival condition, especially, on a small boat like the E27. Still steerable but the condition is deadly dangerous if something fails (sails, captain, crew, lines, or rigging).


The worst sailing experience was years ago as a delivery captain on a Baltic 51 between Boston and England.
Wind at 70 knots (we lost the instrument after 65... literally flew away), 30+ tides, and rain during 36 hours.
We send the chute on the stern and lost it 2 hours later. We send 300 feet long loop and hold Us.
As a captain, I establish a tight schedule for all 4 crew: 2 guys out, 2 inside trying to eat and sleep. Change every 4 hs, lifelines mandatory.
We hold it. I do not care about the position (anyway, we were in the middle of nowhere) but check the boat, nothing worst than back to port with a delivery boat with broken stuff, even if you pass a very bad storm.
After everything passes, I engage the wind vane, stay inside as guard and send the crew to sleep for 4 hours.

 

[jtsai]

I was presented with this process flowchart when recited recent sailing adventure/drama to a non-sailing friend. Yup, mine was a Good Adventure!

 

[Guy Stevens]

Was this the Queens Birthday Weekend storm?

No it was a storm a couple of years later. It was just as bad, but there were not as many boats involved as it was just after the primary time when everyone leaves.

 

[Guy Stevens]

I was presented with this process flowchart when recited recent sailing adventure/drama to a non-sailing friend. Yup, mine was a Good Adventure!

I like this flow chart a lot!
That is sailing to a T.